8 months

Eight months already. Craziness. The first year of Addelyn's life is flying by. Her weight at this point is 17 lbs, 13 oz. and she is 27 inches long. These days she is starting to be much more mobile. She isn't quite crawling...but is up and rocking. She rolls and scoots to get around. Below are some great pics from the month of what is happening these days at the Hoskinson household.

Addelyn can't get up all by herself yet but with a little help she makes it. She loves being in a standing position!

The favorite toy right now is Noah's Ark. Addelyn loves to take the animals out of the ark and of course, put them in her mouth.

As you notice, pretty much everything goes to the mouth!

Her tongue is the new discovery! She loves to stick it out and also makes a lovely growling sound to go with it. A trick taught by Daddy! :)

Just woke up from a nap....she now is sitting up, waiting for us whenever she wakes up!

She loves these rice crackers called Baby Yum Yums.

My friend Tricia and I and our two babes made a quick trip this month (an overnighter) to visit our friend Christina in Wisconsin. Christina and her husband Ryan just moved into a beautiful new home and it was fun to see her and catch up. Above is a picture with the three babes (this is the best one we could get with all of them in it!) Logan is Christina's son and is two. Tricia's son, Trey, is a little over three months old.


Logan and Addelyn took a bath together. He was a wild man and she looked on. :)

Christina and Logan in the front, Tricia and Trey in the back
Finger food time has begun....Cheerios and peas. Once she found the Cheerios, the peas weren't touched again. Hopefully she'll be a better veggie eater than Mark. The only problem, now that we started with some finger foods, she isn't as excited to be fed from a spoon. She gets frustrated and wants to feed herself! I told Mark- it is sad to think she has already reached a stage in her life where she is seeking independence from her parents!

That is our life with an eight month old!

Our Vacation to Waterloo, IA

This year, vacation looked a bit different for us. When we started looking at going places, we realized that having a seven month old made things a bit more challenging to have a vacation "away." We made a decision- this year we would go away for a weekend- just Mark and I- and then spend the rest of the week at home, relaxing all together as a family.

So first, our weekend away. This was the first time we have left Addelyn for a weekend- it was a BIT hard for me. She spent the weekend with Grandma Stewart so she was well taken care of though! Mark and I headed up to Minneapolis for the weekend. We had a great time together. We know that taking that time away, just the two of us, is probably one of the best things we can do for our marriage and for our family. Our goal is to make weekends like this happen every six months or so. It was good for us to connect, laugh together, talk, and just do "date" things like we used to do (before baby)!

Kind of a funny story....we showed up at our hotel on Friday to check in and when we arrived we saw a HUGE line of people, all dressed in very interesting costumes. Many were carrying swords and they ALL had on unique costumes. I cannot even explain our first reaction as we walked into the lobby and saw at least 100 adults in costumes. It definitely made us smile. The front desk explained that it was an Animae Conference. Maybe you are clueless like I was- but to explain, it is Japenese Animation- cartoons and video games. As the weekend went along, we found out that many people (including adults of all ages) are VERY into animae. If you are interested in learning more, you can check out the website below. It was fun, it definitely kept our elevator rides during the weekend interesting as we met a variety of people with a variety of costumes. Definitely a hobby I wasn't aware of. Always good to learn new things!

http://www.japan-zone.com/modern/tv_anime.shtml

We spent the rest of the weekend going to a movie, shopping, going to IKEA, eating out, and just relaxing at the hotel in the hot tub. We had so much fun. Our highlight of the weekend was definitely going to the Shout House, which is a dueling piano bar in downtown Minneapolis. We arrived early and got a table up front and spent the whole evening there on Friday. The piano players were amazing and talented and also very entertaining! They took requests, knew pretty much every song, and made the night a lot of fun. Mark and I loved it. We can't wait to go back and take friends with us.

www.theshouthouse.com

At the Shout House...they had a mirror behind them so you can see their hands flying across the piano.
What a fun date night....

After our fun weekend away, we headed home, both knowing we had the week off. It was a great week. We relaxed a ton, I read some books, Mark watched the Cubs (oh and I did too of course!), and we spent lots of quality time with Addelyn. I absolutely loved being home with her each day- getting to be a part of her schedule from morning until night. I only get to do that on weekends now and I hadn't realized how much of her day-to-day life I am missing.

It was a good week that we were thankful to have.

One of our afternoons was spent at the pool with our friends the Hansens. Austin and Addelyn had fun in the water but here they are below...taking a break on the towels.

The babes, only eight days apart

Mark spent most of his time on the slides with Jaxon (who is four). They would go down the slide, go straight up the stairs, and go down the slide again! I don't know who had more fun, Jaxon or Mark! (Mark always needs good excuses to play like a kid again!)

Overall, vacation was great. We have decided in the future that it may be easier to "disconnect" from work and really get away if we leave town.

But for this year, being home was just what we needed.

books i read this week....

"The Last Lecture" by Randy Pausch

"Reconciliation Blues" by Edward Gilbreath

Being it was our vacation week, I had time to read a few books. I would suggest both of these to you! Today I just finished "The Last Lecture" and it was a short and easy read that was amazing and really got me thinking about my life, about where it is going, and about what kind of legacy I want to leave when I die. I suggest you pick it up.

"Reconciliation Blues" is a glimpse into the life of a black evangelical man...and his experience in the predominately white church. It was interesting, eye opening, and challenging. Another good one to pick up.

Just figured I should share some of these great books with you. Any good reads to share with me? (Now that my vacation is almost over?!)

time for a recount

Okay, just a quick note. Kind of embarassing but I realized that I posted about Addelyn's nine teeth (and how the tenth is poking through).
Whoops. I counted wrong. Seriously, how does that happen? But she actually has eight with a ninth poking through and since I know you all will be seriously examining Addelyn's mouth for proof of ten teeth, I should admit my mistake. :)
I have told people lately I think I'm losing my mind and seriously, another example of why I think I am. I need to pick up Suduko or something. Isn't that supposed to make your brain grow?

Mark's first and probably only post ever......

From an Upset Father and Cubs Fan::

For some reason Grandma Kathy thought it would be a fun picture to have Addelyn in a St. Louis Cardinals Shirt. Truth be told I think that Great Grandpa Quinlan paid her off. Grandpa Tom I hope that you are happy that my little Cub fan has dawned your Cardinal Red. Just so you know I'm sure that my Cub fan friends (Josh, Nick, & Justin) will be disowning me on our trip to Wrigley Field in late August. Since these pictures you will be happy to know that this Tee Shirt has found its way to the bottom of the closet to collect dust. Similar result to that of the St. Louis Cardinals in the NL Central. Sorry to break it to you Grandpa but third place in the Central won't get you in the playoffs. Seeing Addelyn in this shirt made me realize the lenths that I will go to make Great Grandpa Smile (you are really pushing it though).